Should undocumented immigrants be eligible for driver’s licenses?

Sunday

Mar 9, 2014 at 5:49 AMMar 9, 2014 at 5:50 AM

NEW BEDFORD — Jose Ventura is tired of walking, paying for taxis and wait­ing for the bus. He wants to get behind the wheel of a car, but because of his undocumented status (and his lack of a driver’s license) that would put him at risk of getting arrested.

Simon Rios

NEW BEDFORD — Jose Ventura is tired of walking, paying for taxis and wait­ing for the bus. He wants to get behind the wheel of a car, but because of his undocumented status (and his lack of a driver’s license) that would put him at risk of getting arrested.

“It’s dangerous around here,”said Ventura, referring to the muggings faced by New Bedford’s Central Americans. Having a driver’s license, he and other city immigrants say, would shelter them from the attacks.

Then there’s the cold.

“Walking isn’t easy, especially with all this cold,”said Juan Sam, another Mayan immigrant in the city.“Many people get sick ... walking around like that, defenseless.”

Sam was mugged walking on Acushnet Avenue in January. He said he would have been driving if he had a license.

“We the Maya, we didn’t come here to steal, we came to work, to better the economy,”he said.“We’re not bad people. And now it’s important for society to understand our situation and allow the undocumented people to get licenses.”

On Wednesday, JoseVentura traveled to Boston to testify before the House Transportation Committee in favor of a bill that would extend driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.The hundreds-deep crowd in favor of the bill included the head of the state Registrar of MotorVehicles, Celia Blue. However, protestors outside carried anti­immigrant signs. Rep. Paul Schmid, D-Westport, is sponsoring the bill.

“I think it’s a matter of public safety and fairness,”he said.

But Schmid said it’s also about the lack of immigration reform at the federal level — a deadlocked Congress that’s unable to fix a system that by most accounts is broken.

“Things aren’t happening in Washington so … the initiatives have to happen on a state level,”he said. “And by the way, I think that’s good public policy. States are closer to people than the federal government.”

A VISUALLY DISTINCT LICENSE?

Immigrants who hold green cards (permanent residents) can get licenses, as can those with visas. It’s those whose papers have expired — or who never had them in the first place — who don’t qualify. House Bill 3285, the Act Relative to Safe Driving, would make licenses available to those who aren’t eligible for a Social Security number, i.e., undocumented immigrants. (A similar effort floundered in the Massachusetts Legislature in 2010.) Under the law, the license would be valid for four years and be invalid if the holder doesn’t have liability insurance.

A cause for concern is that the law would create a special license, “visually distinct … from a license issued to a holder who is eligible for a Social Security number.”

Mayor Jon Mitchell said with New Bedford’s large undocumented population it’s important to consider driver’s licenses. But he was skeptical about the current bill for this reason.

“It’s hard for me to imagine, however, that there will be many takers if it’s something that signals… the person’s immigration status,”he said.

“It really begs the questions – when is Congress going to level the playing field?”

Rep. Antonio Cabral, D-New Bedford, was also iffy about the bill, primarily because it could lead to “singling out people based on their status.”

“The version of the bill as it is written, I’m not prepared to support it,”he said.

Bliss Trequa, an organizer at the Springfield-based Just Communities, a member of the Safe Driving Coalition, said the group supports the bill but opposes making the license“visually distinct.”She said this further criminalizes undocumented immigrants, and the group hopes for the bill to be amended so the license is not distinct.

“WHY NOT HERE?”

The fight for driver’s licenses isn’t unique to the Bay State.

States across the country have passed similar measures, including California, New Mexico, Vermont and Connecticut, while the Rhode Island Legislature is now considering a bill. In the past year, eight states plus the District of Columbia have passed similar legislation, according to the Safe Driving Coalition, a state group that backs the bill.

“So why not here?”askedVentura, saying the great majority of the city’s Guatemalans are undocumented.

“They don’t have papers and they don’t have licenses. And they have children that they have to bring to the doctors, the babysitter, to do errands… One can’t depend on the bus for all that, or to pay a taxi, which is very expensive.”

Marlene Cerritos, a senior at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School, an organizer with the Student Immigrant Movement, said she’s intimately aware of what licenses mean to the community.

“Most of my family is undocumented, and basically in order to go to work they need to drive,” said Cerritos, 17.“They ask other people to insure cars for them – and they drive without a license.”

Marlene said everyone in the family has different circumstances. She and her father have licenses, while her mother does not. And driving without one can lead to grave consequences. Cerritos said her uncle was deported to El Salvador in relation to an immigration violation – and it all started when he blew a Stop sign.

For New Bedford Police Chief David Provencher, it’s first and foremost a matter of public safety.

“I don’t want people driving around who don’t know how,”he said,“and the licensing procedures will provide that education and training.”

Provencher said it would facilitate police work to be able to identify drivers they pull over.The lack of authenticated identification, he said, makes things difficult.

Pressed for an answer on whether he supports putting licenses into the hands of undocumented immigrants, the chief said,“If you paint me into a corner, I’d say right now I’m leaning towards supporting licenses.

“I might ultimately get there. I’m just not there yet.”

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said at Wednesday’s hear­ing that lawbreakers would not be affected by the legislation, which he said would send a bad message.

“For those who violate the law: It doesn’t matter,”Hodgson said.

“I don’t think it’s right, nor is it consistent with what this country was founded on.”

THE DELEGATION

With more than 25,800 votes cast in a January poll, almost 84 percent of respondents told Fox 25 they think allowing“illegal immigrants”to have licenses would make Massachusetts roads safer. A petition in support of the bill at Change.org has collected 9,327 signatures, arguing that the bill would save lives, free up police, the Registry of MotorVehicles and court resources, and also boost compliance with insurance requirements.

New Bedford’s all Democratic legislative delegation has opposed bills in favor of undocumented immigrants in the past. Every single House member in Bristol County voted nay on a bill in 2006 that would extend in-state tuition rates to the undocumented.

A staffer for Sen. Mark Montigny said he wouldn’t comment on the bill because it’s still in committee.

Rep. Chris Markey was down on the bill, questioning the“implications of providing an undocumented person a license.”

“I would not at this particular time vote in favor of it,”he said.

Rep. Robert Koczera, D-New Bedford, said it’s too early to stake out a position considering the bill is still in the Transportation Committee and it’s uncertain whether it will reach the floor.

“There’s the upside of having people on the road legally,”Koczera said.

“(But) I would not want to send a signal that whether you’re in the country legally or illegally, you can obtain a driver’s license and use this as a source of identification.”

That’s a view consistent with the Republican perspective.

Kirsten Hughes, chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said driving in Massachusetts or any state is a privilege.

“We stand on the side of following the laws, following the regulations, and I think it’s dangerous when folks who are undocumented, who we don’t know anything about, come here and obtain drivers licenses,”she said.

Keiko Orrall, R-Lakeville, said she’s spoken with a sponsor of the bill but will not support it.

“I have spoken to enough legal immigrants… who have been able to work through the system that we have, that I believe that we need to uphold the same standard for everyone,”Orrall said.

“I want driver’s licenses to be limited to those with documented status.”

Editor’s note: Jose Ventura and Juan Sam’s comments were translated from Spanish. Material from State House News Service was used in this report.

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